Do the Republican candidates stand by NOM?

The anti-gay marriage National Organization for Marriage was busted this week following the leak of secret internal documents showing NOM’s plan to drive a racial wedge between white gays and blacks. Here’s part of the offending document:

“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks – two key democratic constituencies. We aim to find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; to develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; and to provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots. No politician wants to take up and push an issue that splits the base of the party. Fanning the hostility raised in the wake of Prop 8 is key…”

This is pretty disgusting stuff. As John wrote on the main site, “it’s all about promoting a race war between blacks and whites in order to hurt gays and the Democratic party, to hell with what it does to the black community, the civil rights movement, or the future of this country.”

Last year, NOM posted an article on their blog, titled, “All Major Candidates Sign NOM Marriage Pledge, Commit to Concrete Steps to Support Marriage.” This list excluded Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, who you may recall took a bit of a hiatus last summer and was not considered a serious candidate. But the list included Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, along with Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty. Gingrich later did sign the NOM Pledge and is prominently featured on the pledge’s website. Here’s the pledge:

Support legislation that would return to the people of D.C. their right to vote for marriage.

So here’s the question: Do Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich still stand by their pledge to the race-baiting and divisive NOM? Do they support NOM’s plan to promote “a race war between blacks and whites in order to hurt gays and the Democratic party”? Do Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich think it’s OK to associate with an organization like NOM? Or will Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich disavow their fealty to NOM?

Matt Browner Hamlin
Matt Browner-Hamlin is a blogger & political strategist based in Washington, DC. He has written about US politics since 2004. He's worked on presidential and Senate campaigns, in the labor movement and the Tibetan independence movement. He is the founder of OccupyOurHomes.org and currently spends much of his time fighting Wall Street banks. Matt on Google+, and his article archive.